Trap for catching porpoises.



G. F. PIKE. TRAP FOR OATOHING PORPOISIEIS.v APPLICATION IILED SEPT. 11,1909.

Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

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CHARLES F. PIKE, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

TRAP FOR CATCI-IING PORPOISES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 11, 1909.

Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

Serial No. 517,247.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. PIKE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trapsfor Catching Porpoises, (Case D,) of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to devices for catching fish and especially forcatching the porpoise. In this art as heretofore developed means havebeen provided for this purpose which comprise in general termsobstructions, such as nets or seines, placed in the path traveled by thefish, and in the rear thereof receptacles with forward openingscoinciding with openings in the obstructions, whereby the fish uponencountering the obstruction will pass through the opening therein intothe receptacle in the rear thereof. The porpoises generally swim nearthe surface of the water and while they will to some extent pass throughthe opening in the obstruction placed in their path, they will be veryliable, when they meet an obstruction, to jump over it and thus be lostto the fisher.

The general object of my invention is to provide means whereby the fishwill be caught after jumping over the obstruction and thus avoid theloss of such a large numher as would occur in the use of the means nowprovided.

The special object of the present invention is to provide means forcatching the porpoise of such construction that it may be floated closeto and removably attached to the obstruction and to receive the fishjumping over the obstruction directly into a receptacle of sufiicientsize to receive a number of the fish and serve as a live box to befloated or towed off to the point at which it is to be emptied.

I have illustrated an embodiment of the invention in the accompanyingdrawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of one form of receptacle constructed inaccordance with my invention, removably attached to an obstruction. Fig.2 is a top plan View, and Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the device asshown in Fig. 1.

Referring specifically to the drawing, 3 indicates the surface and 4 thebottom of a body of water in which the apparatus is to be operated. Anobstruction, in this in stance, an ordinary seine, is shown at 5supported by floats 6 of any ordinary kind at the surface of the waterand held down by any ordinary weights or sinkers 7 at the bot-- tom.

At 8 is shown a trap in the form of a floating box or live box which iscomposed of sides 9, 10, ends 11, 12, bottom 13, and top slats 14. Thislive trap is shown as of rectangular form but such form may be varied solong as the construction is such as to permit of its being'placed withthe upper edge of its front end 11 near the obstruction 5.

The sides ofthe' traps 8 are shown as perforated, or provided withopenings 15 to admit of the free flow of water through them but otherforms might be used to accomplish the same result. Three top slats 14are shown but their number may be varied, the one nearest theobstruction being so placed as to leave an opening 16 in the top ofsutficient size to readily receive the fish umping over the obstruction.

The live box is provided at or near its front end with hooks 17 pivotedat 18 on horizontal pivots so that they may be engaged' over the floatline of the obstruction as shown in full lines in all of the figures, toremovably attach the box to the obstruction, or turned over into the boxout of the way as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

The slats 141 are rigidly secured in place close enough together toprevent the fish caught therein from jumping out, and if deemedadvisable, one or more removable slats, as shown at 19 in dotted linesin Fig. 2, may be used when moving the trap away from the obstruction,the slat 19 being shown as secured by a removable pin 20 at each end,although any other method of temporarily securing them may be used.

At the forward end of the trap or live box there may be provided afender or projection 21 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, to serve to preventthe main body of the structure from contacting with the obstruction whensecured thereto.

In operation, the obstruction is placed in the path of the porpoise andthe trap or live box moved into the position shown and secured by thehooks. When the porpoise reach the obstruction, they will, as is theirhabit, jump over it and drop into the trap through opening 16. When thedesired number have

